Pomegranate Seeds
by AngelofPrey
Summary: Madswan Fest Day 2 & 3 (Dark/Light, Mythology) Emma, the Goddess of Spring, is kidnapped by the lonely God of the Underworld. An ultimatum is struck between them to determine Emma's ultimate fate. Basically an OUAT retelling of the Persephone/Hades story (minus the rape).


A/N: I tossed around a bunch of ideas for the mythology theme: Emma getting help from Jefferson/Hermes with slaying a gorgon, Emma being a goddess of protection and Jefferson praying to her on the eve of battle or something, until I finally settled on this idea which just so happened to also fulfill Tuesday's theme of light and dark rather nicely…

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Pomegranate Seeds

The Underworld was a dark a lonely place. For the souls who were confined to its infinite depths it could be pleasant enough; cool, dark, with gentle breezes of sweet smelling air which lull the spirit remains of the departed into a dream-like state. But for any being half an inch more sentient than the dead, it becomes apparent that the never-ending darkness of the underground can become tedious and even maddening at times. Emma was beginning to understand why the lord and master of this land had stolen her away from the surface.

The plains of Elysium, where she had lived her whole life up to this point, were the complete opposite of this; bright, where the Underworld was dark. Elysium was lush with eternal life in the form of gently rolling hills of golden grass, and herds of gentle animals that were never hungry nor frightened. Lions would suckle the lambs of sheep, and wolves would play merry games with the rabbits. In Elysium the sun almost always shone and the moon and stars were always bright, only interrupted on occasion by gentle summer rains. Here, the only other living things Emma encountered where the strange creatures that served the Underworld's master, and his ravenous and monstrous chimera, Cerberus.

At first, Emma had wept for the loss of the light, and for that of her mother and family. But soon enough, Emma began to become curious about the world in which she found herself. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, she conceded; there were always the stars she had admired in Elysium glittering overhead. And the creatures who served the king of the Underworld were friendly and playful when Emma worked up the courage to engage them. They brought her food when she was hungry and acted as her guides when she wished to go somewhere. But the king himself remained elusive even though he had gone to such lengths to bring her here.

So Emma wandered the darkness, curious about what secrets were held in its depths. And as she wandered she mused over what Jefferson could possibly want from her.

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The line between madness and sanity is a curious thing; much less definite than is entirely comfortable to think about. One can flux between the two effortlessly and ceaselessly, even without meaning to. The King of the Underworld had found himself well beyond the borders of sanity when he'd hatched a plan to kidnap the daughter of the Goddess of the harvest.

It had been her light that had first attracted his attention. A Goddess in her own right; Emma was worshipped by many of the souls who came to his domain. Eventually curiosity had gotten the better of him, and he'd found himself enchanted by her beauty, her happiness, and her apparent innocence at first sight. But enchantment and curiosity eventually turned to obsession, and Jefferson had to take her for his own. He kidnapped the Goddess. But now that he had her, he wasn't really sure why he had done it in the first place… Nor what to do with her now that she _was_ here. So he left her alone, let her explore his dark domain as she desired, while he tried to come to terms with his actions.

But soon enough the tendrils of madness and loneliness ensnared him once more, and he just had to speak with her. Just once. If only once.

She was unafraid when he finally did work up the courage to face her. She demanded answers from him, commanded him to apologize and state his intentions as any true queen would do. He finds that he cannot lie and admits to her that he has no intentions, rather that he was in the grips of loneliness and had merely desired to bring some of her light into this barren domain he is forever tasked with caring for.

Something in the Goddess softened then, he feels it; compassion, empathy, he does not know what exactly entered into the Goddess' heart, but she is visibly less angry than before. She had known loneliness in Elysium too, she explained; though it does not excuse his actions, it does make them understandable. She takes pity on him.

An agreement is reached between them; Emma will stay for a week. She will eat with him, talk with him, be his friend and companion for seven days. In return, he will give her anything she desires. When that week is up Emma will return to her mother's domain and resume her work as the Goddess of the spring; unless he can convince her to stay.

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Jefferson offers her anything she desires. Food, jewels, companionship or entertainment, he is all too happy to suit her whims after what he put her through. The morning after their agreement was struck, Emma made an off-hand remark about how pomegranates are her favorite fruit and suddenly they appeared everywhere; beside her bed, on her table, hidden amongst the fixtures of Jefferson's palace. They hide and wait for her, ripe and ready for her whim to pluck them off the tree to eat.

Her captor is not a cruel god she realizes. He is gentle in his work, bringing souls to rest, guiding them gently towards the afterlife they have earned through the actions in their life. He is fair in judgment when he has need to be, when a soul must meet justice for wrongs committed. He is never cruel in sentencing, but always fair.

With her, he acts as guide, and they speak on many subjects; of the fate of the dead, of the prayers of mortals, of the dual nature of both their purposes. Emma is the Goddess of spring, of reawakenings and births, of rain and of life itself. However, she can also be called upon to hold wrong doers accountable for their actions if no one else will, and she frequently does find herself in the guise of a Goddess of vengeance. Jefferson is the God of the dead, Keeper of the Underworld, and yet he brings comfort to those in pain, eternal peace to tormented souls, even though mortals fear and hate him for his work. Though their outward appearances speak of opposites; darkness and light, the lonely and the loved, death and life, she finds that they are not that dissimilar at all.

The week passes quickly, she finds. More quickly than she wants it to…

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Her mother has been frantic this whole week she's passed below the ground with him. Jefferson doesn't realize this until he receives a visit from Rumpelstiltskin, His Holiness Himself, telling the humble God of the Underworld that Emma's mother has bent his ear to her plea and asked that he intervene in the kidnapping. A week in the Underworld or Elysium could be a year on Earth, as time passes differently in the realm of the Gods, and people have been dying because of Snow White's grief. Jefferson is embarrassed to admit that he's been too distracted by Emma's company to notice.

Knowing nothing of the existing arrangement between Emma and himself, Rumpelstiltskin proposes another: if the Princess resists the food of the Underworld for three days, she may leave and return to the world of her mother. But if she does not resist, she will become the new Queen of the Underworld and her duties will change to include the care of the dead, and Snow will just have to get used to it.

It is a tense atmosphere that Emma is called to, and she seems surprised to see her mother and the King of the all the Gods standing there in Jefferson's throne room. Emma's mother is present to oversee the transaction, to make sure that all is presented to her daughter accurately, and that all is handled to her liking, or at least, not to her disliking. And Jefferson is aware that this is the most gods the Underworld has held in half a millennia…

The terms are carefully explained to Emma by Rumpelstiltskin; the nature between food and fasting and freedom. What she does next however, shocks them all.

Emma takes a quarter of pomegranate from the table before them, and sinks her teeth into the fruit until the ruby liquid dribbles over her chin.

Jefferson smiles.

_Fin._

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A/N: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think. Had to tweak Greek mythology a little bit to make it work, and some of the sections didn't quite coagulate the way I wanted them to, but I'm actually quite pleased with this.


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